"Our dominion is an illusion; there is no separation btwn humans and nature."

As a scientist, I spend a lot of time thinking about how every living thing on Earth is part of an incredible, complex, beautiful system. We ecologists devote our lives to the study of interdependent biophysical cycles that make life possible, yet we’ve only just begun to understand the connections, causes, and effects of changes in various parts of that system. This is hardly surprising considering the fact that it took billions of years for this system to evolve, with the only constant being change. There are a few things scientists do know, however, beyond all reasonable doubt: humans are causing dramatic changes to Earth’s climate; we have accelerated biodiversity loss to about 1,000 times the “background” (natural) extinction rate; and we are contaminating and disrupting many other planetary processes by releasing nitrates, phosphates, plastic particles, and chemicals...